These vegan and gluten-free spinach muffins are made in a blender and combine fresh spinach, oats, avocado oil, flaxseeds, plant-based milk and more! They're free from dye and instead get their vibrant green color from wholesome spinach. Sweet, fluffy and moist, these muffins are quick to make too!
These green muffins are loaded with fresh baby spinach and make for a delicious and healthy breakfast. They are naturally sweetened and allergy-friendly in that they are gluten-free, nut-free and 100% vegan (no dairy and no eggs).
My vegan and gluten-free blueberry muffins are pretty popular in my house, and these vegan pumpkin muffins are a huge hit during the fall, but this recipe is right up there as well! They have the perfect texture and are pretty much fail-proof to make, which is not always easy to say for plant-based muffin recipes.
My kids would tell you that they taste amazing. The two batches we've made in the past two days have already disappeared! I knew with all three kids gobbling them up that I had to add them to the blog so everyone can get in on these vegan spinach muffins.
Why You'll Love these Gluten-Free Spinach Muffins
- Nutritious and filled with spinach you won't taste
- No grittiness
- Light and fluffy texture
- Quick and easy to make
- Kids love them
- Unique dye-free green color
Ingredients
- Gluten-free rolled old fashioned oats
- Spinach (or baby kale)
- Non-dairy milk
- Maple syrup
- Arrowroot powder
- Ground flaxseed
- Avocado oil (or melted coconut oil)
- Vanilla extract
- Apple cider vinegar (or white distilled vinegar)
- Sea salt
- Baking soda
I've never been skeptical of putting greens into smoothies, but I was slightly skeptical about putting spinach in my morning muffins. Would it take on a vibrant green color? Would I taste the spinach? Would the texture be gritty? The good news is after testing them out I discovered they are SUPER green, do NOT taste like spinach at all and have zero grittiness. They literally are perfect if I dare say!
Instructions
I love how quick and utterly simple this recipe is to make. Simply blend the wet ingredients with the spinach and add that to the dry ingredients. Then bake for a total of 20 minutes. The entire process takes less than 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a muffin tin with silicone baking cups or grease it. Or use a silicone muffin pan.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl combine the arrowroot powder, flaxseed, baking soda and salt with a whisk until well combined.
- Blend the wet ingredients and spinach. Blend the plant-based milk, maple syrup, avocado oil (or melted coconut oil), vanilla, vinegar and baby spinach until smooth and no spinach bits remain.
- Add the wet mixture from the blender to the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Whisk the batter until well combined and no oat chunks remain. Do not over-mix.
- Pour the batter into baking cups. Using the mixing bowl's pour spout, carefully pour the batter into the baking cups filling them ⅞ full. Top with mini vegan chocolate chips and/or hemp seeds if you like.
- Bake for 17 minutes at 350 degrees F.
- Let them cool. Remove muffin tin from the oven and allow to cool completely before transferring to a cooling rack. Once they are cool enough to handle, gently remove them from the silicone baking cups. Allow to cool further on the cooling rack for a couple minutes then enjoy warm.
If you have picky eaters and are trying to get more nutrients into them, these blender muffins are the way to go! They are kid-friendly for all ages. My kids especially love the addition of the chocolate chips sprinkled on top of some of the muffins (their idea of course). I like to add hemp seeds to some for me for an added protein and healthy fat boost.
Helpful Tips
- Feel free to add as much spinach as you want! I find you really don't taste it even if you use an entire 5 ounce clamshell container. The more spinach you use, the greener the muffins will come out.
- Store leftovers for up to three days. Use an airtight container and store at room temperature. You can freeze them for up to three months as well!
Perfect for St. Patrick's Day
These green muffins are a healthy and festive way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Instead of food dyes, to make them green I simply blend the spinach with the wet ingredients before adding to the dry ingredients. You could also use this method if making pancakes on St. Patrick's Day morning.
My kids have been all about everything green this week and I have been capitalizing on it with these nutritious recipes:
Using Silicone Baking Cups
A contributor to the success of this recipe is my new BPA-free silicone baking cups (not sponsored). To say I am obsessed is an understatement. With them, you do not need to grease the muffin pan and cleanup is a total breeze. They are dishwasher friendly and come out of the dishwasher completely clean without even a pre-wash.
Most importantly, they make the perfect muffins. No sticking, burning or sogginess. Just absolute muffin-perfection. The muffins pop right out of the baking cups with ease leaving almost no crumb behind. Plus, they are great for the environment and you will never run out. I'm muffin-ready always with these secret weapons. My kids also think they are super cute. They would be adorable for cupcakes too!
(They always go for the chocolate ones as evidenced below!)
This recipe is vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, refined sugar-free, soy-free, egg-free and dairy-free. I hope you love these green muffins as much as we do. If you give this recipe a try, please let me know! Leave a comment below, rate it, and tag a photo @eatingbyelaine and #eatingbyelaine on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook so I can see your creations!
Print
Fluffy Green Spinach Muffins (Vegan and Gluten-Free)
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
These vegan and gluten-free spinach muffins are made in a blender and combine fresh spinach, oats, avocado oil, flaxseeds, plant-based milk and more! They're free from dye and instead get their vibrant green color from wholesome spinach. Sweet, fluffy and moist, these muffins are quick to make too!
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons gluten-free oat flour (do not replace with any other flour)
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ½ cup plain, unsweetened non-dairy milk
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 6 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or white distilled vinegar
- 3-4 large handfuls fresh baby spinach (up to 5 ounces total)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a muffin tin with silicone baking cups or grease it.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl combine the arrowroot powder, flaxseed, baking soda and salt with a whisk until well combined.
- Blend the wet ingredients and spinach. In a high speed blender, blend the plant-based milk, maple syrup, avocado oil, vanilla, vinegar and baby spinach until smooth and no spinach bits remain.
- Add the wet mixture from the blender to the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Whisk the batter until well combined and no oat chunks remain. Do not over-mix.
- Pour the batter into baking cups. Using the mixing bowl's pour spout, carefully pour the batter into the baking cups filling them ⅞ full. I love to use this silicone muffin pan. Top with mini vegan chocolate chips and/or hemp seeds if you like.
- Bake for 17 minutes at 350˚F.
- Let them cool. Remove muffin tin from the oven and allow to cool completely before gently removing them from the silicone baking cups. Allow to cool further on the cooling rack for a couple minutes then enjoy.
Notes
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to five days. These muffins can be frozen for up to 3 months.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 17 minutes
- Category: Breakfast or Snack
- Method: Blender and Oven
Cyndi Funkhouser says
Thanks for this recipe! I was recently diagnosed as anemic with rather low iron levels, so I’ve been trying to find different ways to consume spinach (I tend to eat primarily vegetarian). I also experience daily inflammation and joint pain, so I recently started using a golden milk spice blend as often as possible. I wanted to share a few tweaks that I made to your recipe, which turned out great.
1) To reduce calories and add a bit of vitamin C, I swapped half of the avocado oil and used unsweetened apple sauce instead;
2) I didn’t have arrowroot on hand so I used cornstarch instead;
3) I added 3 tsp golden milk spice blend (which made the muffins turn out more brown than green, but I’m ok with that); and
4) I used an entire 5 oz tub of spinach.
Elaine Gordon says
Thank you so much, Cyndi! I appreciate you sharing your variations and I'm glad it turned out great for you! By the way, I do have many turmeric recipes: https://www.eatingbyelaine.com/easy-vegan-turmeric-latte/ and https://www.eatingbyelaine.com/creamy-vegan-iced-vanilla-turmeric-latte/ are beverages you may like. And then I also have turmeric shots: https://www.eatingbyelaine.com/lemon-ginger-turmeric-shots/ and this turmeric lemonade: https://www.eatingbyelaine.com/pineapple-lemonade-with-ginger-and-turmeric-no-juicing-or-straining-needed/ - and for more spinach check out: https://www.eatingbyelaine.com/vegan-creamed-spinach/ and https://www.eatingbyelaine.com/how-to-make-frozen-spinach-cubes-for-green-smoothies-or-kale/ - I hope this helps! Best, Elaine
Erin says
I made these and they turned out amazing! Exactly as advertised!. They were perfectly sweet that be a breakfast or end of day treat. There was zero grit or any spinach flavor. Just a nicely balanced sweet but not too sugary muffin.
Elaine Gordon says
Thank you so much, Erin! I’m so happy to hear they turned out perfectly for you and that you enjoyed the flavor and texture. I love that they can go from breakfast to an end-of-day treat. That’s exactly what I was going for. I really appreciate your kind words and five-star review! 💚